Ernest A. (Ernest Albert) Baker

Born in 1869 and active as a scholar, editor, and librarian, Ernest Albert Baker is chiefly remembered for his major reference work, The History of the English Novel, published in multiple volumes between the 1920s and 1930s. He also wrote on English fiction, reference books, and librarianship, building a reputation for careful, wide-ranging literary study.

Baker’s writing reflects a deep interest in how stories evolve across time. Rather than focusing on a single author or period, he took on large subjects and organized them clearly, making complex literary history easier to follow. That breadth is a big reason his work remained useful to later readers and researchers.

He died in 1941. Reliable portrait images were not clearly available from the sources I could confirm here, so no profile image is included.